Use of an interactive, faith-based kiosk by congregants of four predominantly, African-American churches in a metropolitan area

Chronic diseases are prevalent in ethnic communities. Churches represent a potent resource for targeted health promotion. A Faith-Based Kiosk (FBK) was developed as an informational tool and placed in four predominantly (>80%) African-American churches. Congregants were surveyed to describe Kiosk use, kiosk-user characteristics, health status, and self-reported behavior changes attributed to the kiosk. We analyzed 1,573 questionnaires. Mean age of respondents was 46.4 years and >70% were women. Older congregations (mean age > 46.1 years) had more reports of diabetes (p=0.002) and heart disease (p=0.01) than younger churches (mean age 40 years (p2 health conditions, adjusted Odds Ratio (95% Confidence Interval)=1.43 (1.0-2.0), p=0.05. Male Kiosk-users preferred to select disease-specific content, aOR=1.87 (1.10-3.17), p=0.02, while females tended to select information about supportive community resources, aOR=0.49 (0.23-1.04), p=0.062. Knowledge of Kiosk-user characteristics and the health status of a congregation, provide an opportunity for targeted, church-based health promotion